Method and communication system for the first-time entry of subscriber data of a mobile subscriber into a central subscriber data base

ABSTRACT

A method and communication system for the first-time entry of subscriber data of a mobile subscriber into a central subscriber data base wherein entry composed of a special telephone number and of blocking information for temporarily barring calls for the mobile subscriber is formed in at least one central subscriber data base and is transferred into a decentralized subscriber data base that is the first one responsible for the location registration for the mobile radio telephone subscriber on the basis of his current location. As soon as the mobile subscriber makes an outgoing call for the first time via a radio telephone subscriber station, a connection setup occurs to a calling point on the basis of the special telephone number stored in the decentralized subscriber data base. The subscriber data, including a mobile subscriber telephone number is entered into the central subscriber data base via the calling point, and the blocking information reset therein and the special telephone number is deleted.

The present invention is directed to a method, and to a communicationsystem, for the first-time entry of subscriber data of a mobilesubscriber that can be identified by a mobile subscriber identifier in amobile radio telephone network and that would like to accept and makecalls with a radio telephone subscriber station into a centralsubscriber data base.

As is known, in this field a mobile subscriber telephone number isassigned to every mobile subscriber of a mobile radio telephone network;for example, a communication system operated according to the GSMstandard. Further, telecommunication services are allocated to thismobile subscriber telephone number wherein it is entered in advance inat least one central subscriber data base (home register) for the mobilesubscriber. Upon acquisition of the radio telephone subscriber stationwith which the mobile subscriber can accept and make calls or,respectively, of a chip card (SIM card, subscriber identity module)introduceable into a radio telephone subscriber station on the basiswhereof an allocation of the radio telephone subscriber station to themobile subscriber occurs, prepared service packages having apredetermined scope are usually offered by the seller. The seller mustthereby inform the service provider or the network operator of the scopeof the services before the previously initialized chip card, on whichthe mobile subscriber identifier of the mobile subscriber is stored, canbe enabled. The radio telephone subscriber station can receive and sendcalls only after this. Individual services or specific subscriber datasuch as, for example, a vanity telephone number are either not possibleat all or are only possible by accepting a time-consuming, mutualinformation process between dealer, service provider or, networkoperator.

International Patent Application WO-A-96/27270 discloses a method and anarrangement for programming a mobile terminal equipment withidentification numbers respectively allocated by a cellular mobileradiotelephone system via a topically remote location. Data of a mobilesubscriber are thereby entered for the first time in at least onecentral subscriber database of the mobile radiotelephone system.

An object of the present invention is to specify a method andcommunication system for the entry of subscriber data into a centralsubscriber data base with which the first-time entry of the subscriberdata occurs as simply and flexibly as possible.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In accord therewith, an entry composed of a special telephone number andof blocking information for temporarily blocking the calls for themobile subscriber is formed in the central subscriber data base and istransferred into the decentralized subscriber data base that is thefirst that is responsible for the location registration for the mobileradio telephone subscriber due to his current location. As soon as themobile subscriber has made an outgoing call via the radio telephonesubscriber station for the first time, a call setup occurs to a callinglocation on the basis of the special telephone number stored in thedecentralized subscriber data base. The subscriber data, including amobile subscriber telephone number, are entered into the centralsubscriber data base via the calling location, wherein the blockinginformation therein is reset and the special telephone number isdeleted.

As such, the mobile subscriber can have his individual subscriber dataentered in the home register in a flexible way as soon as possible afterthe purchase of a radio telephone subscriber station, or SIM chip card,as soon as he has signaled the first connection request by outputting acall to the network. As a result of the special telephone number enteredfor him in the central subscriber data base, a rerouting of theconnection that is usually set up on the basis of the outgoing call tothe calling location is effected. The blocking information serves thepurpose of suppressing calls before the subscriber data for the mobilesubscriber are registered in the central subscriber data base and, thus,the acceptance or, respectively, making of calls is possible in themobile radio telephone network. The dealer who sells the radio telephonesubscriber station, or SIM chip card, is no longer involved in theinitialization procedure for enabling the card or, respectively, theradio telephone subscriber station. This avoids the aforementioneddisadvantages of a lack of assigning individual subscriber data,particularly of the different services desired in terms of nature andscope, as well as a time-consuming registration procedure.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, a specificsubscriber telephone number (vanity telephone number) that deviates fromthe mobile subscriber telephone numbers administered by the centralsubscriber data base, and that is administered by a different centralsubscriber data base, is entered for the mobile subscriber as subscriberdatum. It is thereby advantageous when reference information for theidentification of the central subscriber data base containing thesubscriber data is stored in the other central subscriber data base.

Additional features and advantages of the present invention aredescribed in, and will be apparent from, the Detailed Description of thePreferred Embodiments and the Drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 shows a block circuit diagram of the executive sequence for thefirst-time entry of the subscriber data of a mobile subscriber in thehome register of the mobile radio telephone network of the presentinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The present invention is explained on the basis of the exemplaryembodiment shown in FIG. 1. A mobile subscriber who purchases a radiotelephone subscriber station MS or, respectively, an SIM chip card thatis introduced into a radio telephone subscriber station is assigned tothe radio telephone subscriber station MS by a mobile subscriberidentifier IMSI stored on the chip card. The mobile subscriberidentifier serves for the unambiguous identification of the mobilesubscriber within a mobile radio telephone network; for example, theinternational GSM mobile communication system (Global System For MobileCommunication). The allocation of the mobile subscriber identifier IMSI,which is unknown to the mobile subscriber, to a mobile subscribertelephone number MSISDN is made in the mobile radio telephone network,by the decentralized subscriber data base,—the home register,—designatedHLR in the present example. Before the mobile subscriber can accept andmake calls with the radio telephone subscriber station MS, hissubscriber data must be deposited for the first time in at least thecentral subscriber data base of the mobile radio telephone network in aninitialization procedure, usually as a home register that is responsiblefor him. The subscriber data includes a plurality of information suchas, for example, basic telecommunication services, supplementaryservices, data services, access authorization to specific servicelocations, routing information for call handling, and a plurality ofidentifiers for addressing and identifying such as, for example, theinternational mobile subscriber identifier IMSI and the internationalmobile subscriber telephone number MSISDN, etc.

The cellularly constructed mobile radio telephone network includes aradio-oriented part with a base station system BSS and aswitching-oriented part with mobile switching centers MSC, decentralizedsubscriber data bases, or—visitor registers,—VLR and central subscriberdata bases, or—home registers,—HLR, RHLR. Each radio cell of thecellular mobile radio telephone network is covered by a basetransmission/reception station, of which one or more basetransmission/reception stations are respectively connected to a basestation controller in the base station system BSS. The mobile switchingcenter MSC to which a visitor register VLR is allocated services, on theone hand, one or more base station controllers of the base stationsystem BSS and sets up, on the other hand, connections to other networkssuch as, for example, a public telephone network. When a mobilesubscriber is located in the coverage area of a visitor register, hissubscriber data is temporarily stored in the visitor register VLR forthe duration of his residency. The visitor register VLR thereby containsall subscriber data that is needed for the call handling, the call setupand the location registration. Additionally, a calling point OP isprovided to which a connection for the first-time registration of thesubscriber data in the home register is set up. The calling point OP canbe reached via a specific telephone number,—as is explained in greaterdetail later a—and can initiate the entry of the individual subscriberdata for the mobile subscriber via an operator in the form of a machineor a human operator.

When the radio telephone subscriber station MS is switched on for thefirst time or, respectively, given a request for updating the locationregistration, a message LU (location update) is initiated by the radiotelephone subscriber station MS, wherein the message LU is sent to themobile switching center MSC (1) via the base transmission/receptionstation responsible for the radio cell in which the mobile subscriber islocated. The mobile switching center MSC subsequently sends an updatingmessage UL (update location) to the home register HLR that is defined(2) by the mobile subscriber identifier IMSI. The selection of thecorrect home register HLR occurs on the basis of the mobile subscriberidentifier IMSI communicated to the visitor register VLR in the messageLU or with the assistance of information sent in the message LU fromwhich the mobile subscriber identifier IMSI is identified. Theseinformation can, for example, be composed of a radio cell identifierand/or of a temporary mobile subscriber identifier. For later proceduresin the call setup, the home register HLR can also be selected on thebasis of a HLR address respectively entered in the visitor register VLR.

An entry composed of a special telephone number OPNU and of a blockinginformation BAR that is set for temporary blocking the calls through themobile subscriber (BAR=ACT) is formed in the home register HLR. Such anentry in the home register HLR is produced for every SIM chip card sold,for example, by a dealer in order to allow the subscriber data for themobile subscriber identifiable with the mobile subscriber identifierIMSI to be entered as soon as the mobile subscriber initially attemptsto make a call. As a reply to the message UL, the home register HLRsends a message ISD (insert subscriber data) back to the visitorregister VLR in which the special telephone number OPNU; is contained(3) for example; as mobile subscriber telephone number MSISDN that quasirepresents a virtual mobile subscriber telephone number and not the realmobile subscriber telephone number required for the call setup in thenetwork. Alternatively thereto, the special telephone number OPNU alsocan be contained in a field that is usually reserved for a number whenblocking calls (call barring) or when forwarding calls (callforwarding), or it can be contained in a specific expansion of themessage ISD. The transmission of the message ISD between home registerHLR and visitor register VLR occurs according to the mobile radiotelephone-specific application part (mobile application part) of theCCS7 signaling system that is provided for the communication of theelements of the mobile radio telephone network for controlling thenetwork access of the radio telephone subscriber stations MS and thatneed not be modified for the present invention.

When the mobile subscriber makes an outgoing call (mobile originatingcall) via the radio telephone subscriber station MS for the first time,which can be recognized by the mobile switching center MSC on the basisof an arriving message SU (setup call) (4), the visitor register VLRresponsible for the mobile subscriber as first decentralized subscriberdata, based on the subscriber's current location, determines whether theblocking information BAR is active for the mobile subscriber. When theblocking information is present, the destination subscriber telephonenumber on which the initiated call is based is replaced by the specialtelephone number OPNU in order to setup a connection from the mobileswitching center MSC to the calling point OP. To this end, a message SUOfor connection setup is transmitted (5) between the mobile switchingcenter MSC and the calling point OP. The calling point can beestablished by a network operator or a service provider who, forexample, makes services available to the mobile subscriber on behalf ofthe network operator. Via the calling point OP, the subscriber data thatis individually customized for the respective mobile subscriber in termsof scope and type are written into the home register HLR via the messageID.

Thus, for example, a specific service package or the entire scope ofservices including fundamental telephone communication services andadditional, individual services and/or a specific subscriber telephonenumber (vanity telephone number) can be entered into the home registerHLR responsible for the mobile subscriber. Over and above this, theblocking information BAR activated in the home register HLR is resetafter the first-time entry of valid subscriber data for the mobilesubscriber and the special telephone number OPNU is deleted (6). Whenthe mobile subscriber would like to have the specific subscribertelephone number (MSISDN) as subscriber datum, which deviates from amobile subscriber telephone number that can usually be allocated to themobile subscriber identifier IMSI, a message ID′ is sent from thecalling point OP to a different home register RHLR (relay homeregister). The allocation of the mobile subscriber telephone numberoccurs by assigning a number from the supply of numbers available to thehome register HLR. Reference information for the identification of thehome register HLR in which the subscriber data is stored is stored (6′)in the home register RHLR. Given call handling on the basis of a callupon employment of the specific subscriber telephone number (MSISDN),thus, it is assured that a connection from the home register RHLRresponsible for the mobile subscriber is set up to the home register HLRdefined by the mobile subscriber identifier IMSI that is unknown to themobile subscriber. The administration of the specific subscribertelephone numbers is the responsibility of the home register RHLR bystoring the reference information, whereas the real mobile subscribertelephone number for the mobile subscriber also is entered in the homeregister HLR actually responsible for him.

In a message ISD′ (insert subscriber data), the real mobile subscribertelephone number MSISDN and the subscriber data SSD entered for themobile subscriber, as well as the deactivated blocking information(BAR=NACT) are transmitted (7) from the home register HLR to the visitorregister VLR in order to replace the entry composed of the specialtelephone number OPNU and the activated blocking information (BAR=ACT)by the communicated information. Following the activation of thesubscriber data including the services, the mobile subscriber has thepossibility of making outgoing calls via the radio telephone subscriberstation (MS) and accepting incoming calls that are handled and sequencedin the mobile radio telephone network in a known fashion according tothe subscriber data of the mobile subscriber stored in at least one homeregister.

Although the present invention has been described with reference tospecific embodiments, those of skill in the art will recognize thatchanges may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scopeof the invention as set forth in the hereafter appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for the first-time entry of subscriberdata of a mobile subscriber that is identifiable in a mobile radiotelephone network by a mobile subscriber and identifier and that wouldlike to accept and make calls with a radio telephone subscriber stationin at least one central subscriber data base, the method comprising thesteps of: forming in the central subscriber data base an entry havingboth a special telephone number and blocking information that is set fortemporarily barring calls for the mobile subscriber; transferring theentry from the central subscriber data base into a decentralizedsubscriber data base that is a first one responsible for locationregistration for the mobile radio telephone subscriber based on acurrent location of the subscriber; setting up a connection to a callingpoint based on the special telephone number stored in the decentralizedsubscriber data base as soon as an outgoing call from the mobilesubscriber is made for the first time via the radio telephone subscriberstation; entering the subscriber data, including a mobile subscribertelephone number, via the calling point into the central subscriber database wherein a specific subscriber telephone number is entered as thesubscriber data for the mobile subscriber, the specific subscribertelephone number not belonging to mobile subscriber telephone numbersadministered by the central subscriber data base and being administeredby a second central subscriber data base; resetting the blockinginformation in the central subscriber data base; and deleting thespecial telephone number.
 2. A method as claimed in claim 1, furthercomprising the step of: storing reference information for theidentification of the central subscriber data base containing thesubscriber data in the second central subscriber data base.
 3. A methodas claimed in claim 1, wherein the connection to a calling point of oneof a network operator and a service provider is set up by these specialtelephone number.
 4. A methos as claimed in claim 1, wherein the scopeand nature of the subscriber data are individually entered into thecentral subscriber data base for the mobile subscriber.
 5. Acommunication system for the first-time entry of subscriber data of amobile subscriber that is identifiable in a mobile radio telephonenetwork by a mobile subscriber identifier and that would like to acceptand make calls with a radio telephone subscriber station in a centralsubscriber data base, the communication system comprising: at least onecentral subscriber data base for storing an entry which includes both aspecial telephone number and blocking information that can be set fortemporarily barring calls for the mobile subscriber; a decentralizedsubscriber data base that is a first one responsible for locationregistration for the mobile radio telephone subscriber based on acurrent location of the subscriber for accepting the entry from thecentral subscriber data base; and a calling point which is arranged suchthat a connection is set up to the calling point based on the specialtelephone number stored in the decentralized subscriber data base assoon as the mobile subscriber makes an outgoing call for the first timevia the radio telephone subscriber station, and such that the subscriberdata, including a mobile subscriber telephone number, is entered intothe subscriber data base via the calling point and the blockinginformation is reset in the central subscriber data base and the specialtelephone number is deleted, and wherein the calling point is arrangedsuch that reference information for identification of the centralsubscriber data base containing the subscriber data is stored via thecalling point in a second central subscriber data base.